London Buses route 117
London Buses route 117 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Metroline, and operates from West Middlesex Hospital to Staines. It is also partly supported by Surrey County Council. History London Bus Routes - History, route 117 Accessed 4 April 2008 Route 117 is a very long standing route, started in the 1930s, and was one of a number of routes that operated in the London Transport country bus area, but were worked by Central Area red buses, that used a route number below 300. In the case of the 117, Hounslow garage operated the service. At the time, the route ran half hourly from Hounslow to Egham serving Feltham, Ashford and Staines, with an hourly service extending to Virginia Water. However, on Saturdays, in common with route 116, there was a greatly enhanced service, with buses running every 6 minutes as far as Feltham, every 12 minutes on to Egham in the afternoon. The service between Egham and Virginia Water was withdrawn in 1933, with the Sunday service being diverted to Windsor Castle. At its peak in the early 1950s, services ran 18 times an hour between Hounslow and Staines, with 6 going on to Egham. This was because Staines was a big attraction for leisure journeys at the time, and so also was Hounslow's shopping centre. The extra Saturday buses were sourced by reducing Hounslow garage's allocation to shared routes 33 and 98. The route was quite stable until 1961, when trolleybus route 657, Hounslow Heath to Shepherd's Bush, was withdrawn. Route 117 was doubled in length to run to Shepherd's Bush on Mondays to Saturdays. The replacement on Sundays was route 81B. On 19 July 1975 the Egham to Staines section was withdrawn completely. The Brentford to Shepherd’s Bush section was transferred to route 237 on 28 January 1978 and route 117 was converted to driver-only operation. The Hounslow to Brentford section was not covered in the evenings or at weekends. On 10 August 1981, the Saturday service was extended to Brentford. The Sunday service followed on 27 November 1993. From 31 August 1996 the service was withdrawn east of the London Road junction with Thornbury Road in Isleworth. Hounslow bus station had severe capacity constraints, and this was the first point east of there that buses could be reversed. On 1 September 2001 the route was extended further along London Road, then via St John's Road and Twickenham Road to West Middlesex University Hospital. On 9 August 1986, the route was transferred to Westlink. On 10 August 1991 it passed to Tellings-Golden Miller with a fleet of ex Midland Fox Leyland Nationals. Tellings-Golden Miller pulled out of bus operations quickly, and route 117 passed to London & Country on 23 February 1992. On 31 August 1996, the route passed to Armchair and withdrawn between Isleworth and Brentford. The route was retained by Armchair on 1 September 2001. It was extended from Isleworth to West Middlesex University Hospital at the same time with new Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLFs. In November 2004, route 117 was included in the sale of Armchair to ComfortDelGro. On 2 September 2006, the route was retained by Armchair. On 6 January 2007, ComfortDelGro integrated Armchair into its Metroline subsidiary. On 3 September 2011, the route passed to Abellio London operating from their Fulwell (TF) garage with brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Darts introduced. On 3 September 2016, the route passed to Metroline operating from their Brentford (AH) garage using Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Darts. Current route Route departing West Middlesex Hospital *'West Middlesex Hospital' *Isleworth Fire Station *'Hounslow' Bus Station, London Road *Hounslow Heath Hussar *'Feltham' Station, High Street *Lower Feltham Three Horseshoes *'Ashford' Royal Hart *Ashford Dog & Partridge *'Staines' Bus Station Route departing Staines *'Staines' Bus Station, stand nine *'Ashford' Dog & Partridge *Ashford Royal Hart *Lower Feltham Three Horseshoes *'Feltham' Station, High Street *Hounslow Heath Hussar *'Hounslow' Bus Station, London Road *Isleworth Fire Station *'West Middlesex Hospital' See also * List of bus routes in London * Metroline References External links * Transport for London * London Bus Routes * Full timetable - TfL (PDF) * Full timetable - SCC 117, London buses route 177, London buses route